Sunday, April 22, 2012

I recently caught up with Randy Duncan and Matthew Smith, editors of the Eisner nominated book Critical Approaches to Comics: Theories and Methods, a work that collects together writings by a who's who of comics scholars and their deep thoughts regarding all sorts of critical analysis.

KM: Congratulations on your Eisner Award nomination. I understand that this is a new category for academic writing?

RD/MS: Yes,
the Eisner Awards administrators and judges, particularly Ben Saunders,
an English professor and comics scholar, recognized that academic work
on comics was substantially different from the work usually nominated in
the Best Comics-Related Book category. Books with few pictures and
words like “critical,” “theories,” and “methods” in the title are not
likely to fair well against beautifully produced coffee table books
about the history of DC Comics or the art of Alex Toth.

Randy Duncan and Matthew Smith signing at San Diego Comic-Con

KM: You've
got a stellar cast of scholars contributing to this book. When I saw
your panel San Diego Comic-Con last year, I remember being impressed by
the people you brought together. How did you decide who to include?

RD/MS: Reputation
had a lot to do with the selections. Nearly all of these scholars had
written a book that we had read or made a presentation at a conference
we attended in the past. David Berona is the leading scholar on
wordless comics, Molotiu edited the Eisner-nominated Abstract Comics
anthology, Peter Coogan wrote the definitive book on the superhero
genre, and Amy Nyberg is currently working on the definitive book on
comics journalism. We knew we were aiming our sites high with the list
of contributors, but to our delight, nearly everyone we invited agreed
to contribute. And we agree: They are stellar!

RD/MS: Power of Comics
is really about introducing novice students to the field. And as its
subtitle suggests, it covers the breadth of the field, covering what
previous scholarship tells us about the history, form, and culture of
comics. And so if the Power of Comics is an introduction to the field, then Critical Approaches is emersion into
the field. It articulates ways to generate new comics scholarship by
explaining the various intellectual tools that comics scholars use and
modeling how they would be employed in order to identify new insights
into the medium and the cultures surrounding it.

KM: Can
you talk about the structure of the book and the different sections
you've included? This is intended as a teaching text, right?

RD/MS: Absolutely! We hope that Critical Approaches
will equip the next generation of comics scholars with a variety of
methods they can use to generate new insights about comics. With that in
mind, we surveyed the field and attempted to identify five areas where
we saw critical work clustering. First, there are a considerable number
of approaches that address the formal qualities of comic book
storytelling. These include tools for interpreting elements like shape,
color, and form. Second, there are approaches that focus on the contentof the stories and the meanings that result from them. Third is the means of production
and how comics are made. This includes consideration of the creators
and the industry. Fourth, we identify methods that examine context issues that draw in broader social issues manifest in comics, such as ideology and feminism. Finally, we look at audience reception
and how readers make sense and build culture out of the comics
experience. In all, we have 21 separate methods under these five section
heads. Of course, there was not room to include all scholarly
approaches, but Critical Approaches provides a solid
representation of methods students and scholars can apply, modify, and
build upon to advance the field of comics studies.

KM: What else are you looking forward to at Comic-Con, aside from (hopefully) winning an Eisner?

RD/MS: Ha,
ha. It’s just an honor to be nominated . . . and to get to sit at the
big kids’ table this year. In addition to the Eisner ceremony, another
highlight will be commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the Comics
Arts Conference. Randy will be moderating a Pioneers of Comics
Scholarship panel featuring some of the scholars whose work is the
foundation of comics studies. Matt will also be offering his
“Experience at Comic-Con” course for undergraduates who want to study
the intersection of fandom and marketing cultures (seats are still
available—see www.powerofcomics.com/fieldstudy for details).

About Me

Art historian, author, artist and researcher living in the
SF Bay Area. Emphasis on works on paper and exhibitions, in particular comic art, law
& pop culture and labor graphics (union labels). Owner of Neurotic Raven, which recently published On Reflection: the Art of Margaret Harrison and Dual Views: Labor Landmarks of San Francisco.